Three's a Crowd
by LeonaWriter
Summary: It was supposed to be a normal mission. Routine. But with Rin along, he should have known it wasn't going to be, no matter what he wanted. And then there was that odd boy with the glasses…


Yukio missed the long gone days when he could have, theoretically, been able to leave Rin at home. Unfortunately, it was now a case of his brother not being allowed to be left alone or not in the care of someone equipped to deal with him for too long, and that meant. Well.

Since Shura was called away, he was currently sat shotgun next to the driver, an Aria and Tamer he'd worked with before on a few occasions, with Rin in the back seat.

The destination wasn't that far away, but due to the winding roads as well as the distance, it _would_ still take about an hour.

It felt like it was taking longer, however, since Rin kept asking about the mission they were going on, and assuming that, for _some odd reason_, he would be involved. Which he certainly would not be.

Rin, for _once in his life_, was going to stay put and watch, and not say a word. For _once._

The mission brief was that a man had reported strange goings on in his house ever since he'd moved in. The previous owners hadn't reported anything odd, but they had moved out a couple of months ago.

In theory, it should be an easy enough case to handle. Figure out what was causing the disturbances, exorcise the demon if there _was _one and it wasn't just some kids playing out of taste jokes, and be back in time for dinner.

In _theory, _at least.

The reality was far different.

He had to remind his brother twice to put his tail away, since there might be ordinary people who had just _happened _to receive a spirit wound who would prefer not to see strange things. And then _again_ to remind him to not let it move about too much, as it tended to show even when people _didn't _have spirit wounds, the overall effect being incredibly creepy even when you _did_ know what was under there, _and _you were okay with it.

It was because of these distractions that he only noticed the second car parked up outside the house that wasn't in the garage a bit later than his partner for the mission. A car that didn't match the small details of the house, and the way it was kept currently.

_"Ne, ne, jii-san, I just heard a car pull up!"_

Yukio frowned, and shared a look with the other exorcist. Since when did people normally have guests over - let alone children - when they were called in? Usually, people who trusted them enough to call them in knew that things might get dangerous unexpectedly.

They heard footsteps before he could even raise his hand to knock at the door, and it opened to show a man in his late twenties, and a child moving just out of sight.

"Miyamoto-san?"

The man nodded, somewhat warily.

"Okumura Yukio, Intermediate First Class Exorcist from the True Cross. You asked for our assistance."

"Ah, that's right! I hope you don't mind the mess, it's been hell to keep everything sorted out with all this going on... I've also got guests over, it was all a bit sudden, my brother thought it might help. I hope you don't mind."

"As long as they don't provide a distraction, then it shouldn't be a problem, Miyamoto-san. Please, lead the way."

And he did so, Rin getting left behind in the hall so that he didn't mess things up.

...

"Ne, niichan?" Conan's feet kicked at the stair he was sitting on. "You're with them, right?"

He supposed there was a sort of irony - the kid he was talking to looked younger than he was, when he was at his normal age, but as things were, it'd ended up that he was still seen as 'younger'.

The kid blinked at him, and then grinned brightly.

"Yup! That Yukio's my little brother! Cool, right?"

"Ah! That makes you twins, doesn't it? Because you both look around the same age!"

"Heh, you're a smart kid, you know that?"

Conan laughed, supposedly a little embarrassed by the compliment, but inwardly frustrated.

"Ne, niichan? Do _you_ think it might be a demon or a ghost? I always thought they didn't exist!"

More like, _why was there even a whole organisation built around fighting imaginary things? _Wasn't it just a waste of funds and public resources?

But it wasn't as though he could say any of _that_ when he was still trying to pretend to be a kid.

"Yeah... I never used to, either." Okumura's - he had to assume they shared the same last name at least - eyes clouded over somewhat as if in memory. "But then something changed, and I couldn't really ignore it any more."

Well, that was... a funny way of putting it.

Something crashed upstairs, and without any warning whatsoever, Okumura was tearing past him, jumping up the stairs and holding onto what certainly _looked_ like a covered _sword_. He wasn't drawing it, though, but something made Conan wonder whether he should follow the boy up the stairs or not. A shiver down his spine. The hairs on the back of his neck raising.

There was a thunk, and a _shot_, and to hell with his instincts telling him this was a _bad idea, turn back now_, he was racing up after them, making sure the stun watch was set and reminding himself that the rest of his gadgets were primed.

He was faced with a scenario which at once shocked and _confused_ him.

Miyamoto was hiding from something, arms over his head. The younger Okumura was aiming a gun - it wasn't as though he hadn't seen the slight bulge before, which seemed like it wasn't in its usual place, even - but not at Miyamoto. The elder Okumura was aiming his sword - still sheathed, oddly enough - at the same spot. The man they'd come in with was down for the count.

The strangest thing was that there was nothing - _absolutely nothing_ - in the room with them. Everyone was present who wasn't Kogoro or Ran, both of whom _should_ still be downstairs.

And then everything changed, and everyone was reacting to some form of invisible, unheard cue that he wasn't in on. Okumura, the one with the sword, spotted him, and shouted at him to get back down and out of the way, that this wasn't the place for kids, but that was it - he wasn't a _kid_. And if there was something he could do, then-

_"Kid, get down!"_

He was ducking as fast as he could, but he didn't really know which way _to_ duck, and then a shot was firing, aimed not far above where his head had just been. His head came up and he found himself staring at the younger brother in disbelief, but no one - other than Miyamoto himself - seemed bothered, and Miyamoto was still huddled in a corner, trying to ignore everything going on.

_"You- you nearly shot me!"_

The Okumura with the sword snorted while the one he'd been referring to merely _tched_ and re-aimed.

"Yukio wouldn't have hit you! He's a better shot than that!"

"Nii-san."

There was blood on his hand. Why was there blood on his hand?

"O-oi! That wasn't _my_ fault!"

"Perhaps if you'd done as you'd been told and not rushed in, you might have been able to prevent it."

What were they even talking about?

He blinked, sure that his eyes were now just plain playing tricks on him, because _this was not real_.

There was _no way _there was this weird monster that looked like it was from a sentai show on the ceiling. No way at all.

Another shot rang out, and the weird... _creature_... thing, disappeared with a cry. Okumura Yukio put his gun away with a sigh while the older brother put the sword, even then never drawn, back into its cloth case. Then, Yukio walked slowly over to where he was, just as the room started to turn upside down.

_"It's nothing to worry about," _he heard as if in the distance. _"It's not as bad as a spirit wound caused by a ghoul, so it should just heal over given the right treatment and he'll be up and about again in a few hours..."_

...

They stuck around for a bit after that, mostly to console that Miyamoto guy and to reassure the kid's guardians that he was going to be okay. Like Yukio'd said, he wasn't even that hurt.

It was still a pain though, because Yukio kept sending him glares, and telling him that he should've stayed downstairs, and if he'd done that, then the kid wouldn't have gone up - to which he came back with the fact that the other exorcist had been taken out first, so weren't they supposed to work as a team?

Yukio had given up at that point, and had gone to check on the other guy, who'd woken up with a sore head, but otherwise none the worse for wear and assuring them that he was fit to drive. Yukio had told them _both_ that as the doctor on the team - with Rin beaming at the idea of being included in the team - he was overriding that assessment and they were going to stay right there until someone could pick them up.

All in all, not as bad as it could have been, he thought later as they were being driven back.

Although he could've sworn that kid had been staring at him just after he'd got in the car, around the same time as he'd taken his tail out from under his shirt.


End file.
